Intense crowd noise sidelines German soccer star

Temporarily, at least. The Guardian reports that “Timo Werner is ‘feeling better’ after he asked to be substituted due to the intense noise created by the home supporters during RB Leipzig’s Champions League defeat to Besiktas on Tuesday.” Werner asked for the substitution only after he had already asked for, and received, ear plugs. The team manager, Ralph Hasenhüttl, said that he had “no choice but to accede to Werner’s request,” while noting that “[t]here was a deafening noise [and] at the start of the game we were a bit affected.”

We would say kudos to Team Manager Hasenhüttl for taking Werner’s request seriously, but The Guardian reports Hasenhüttl “appeared to criticise Werner’s request to be withdrawn so early,” hinting that he was disappointed. And then he threw in a dig about needing to know that he can rely on his players.

Instead of questioning Werner’s reliability, perhaps Hasenhüttl should demand that stadium owners do something about damaging noise. Adding that we must note our surprise with Hasenhüttl’s comments given that in Germany noise regulation is taken very seriously.